Innovation comes to Metrowest

Route 128 on the Newon-Needham border is on its way to being transformed from drab, empty buildings to tall, modern structurees bustling with young professionals.

TripAdvisor broke ground on its six-story, 280,000-square-foot headquarters on the Needham side of the N2 Corridor in November.

This month, the state approved Newton to be designated as an economic target area, which will allow the city to offer similar tax incentives to companies, said Mayor Setti Warren.
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Courtesy of International Orange

Needham

Another proposed development in Needham is the Wells Avenue project, which would include 334 apartments. The project, which still needs state and city approval, might aso include a dry cleaner, cafe, and yoga studios.
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Joanne Rathe/Globe Staff

Littleton

Christina Tsillas, a seventh grader at Littleton Middle School showed Alex Pratt, Littleton School Committee member, Scott Bazydlo, principal of Russell St Elementary School, and Mark Branco, principal of the middle school, how she worked out a solution as students participate in code.org's Hour of Code program, as part of Computer Science Education Week.

The school has been selected as one of 50 schools nationwide and the only one in the state to receive a $10,000 award from code.org to design and implement a center-based programming and engineering computer lab.

Code.org teaches students how to write code, preparing students for the growing field of computer science. Littleton students will learn coding methodology, computer science techniques, and engineering design skills by developing apps, games, a variety of digital media, and robotic projects, according to Branco.
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Kayana Szymczak for The Boston Globe

Hopkinton

New business incubator TechSandBox offers mentors, training, speakers, and other amenities for would-be business owners interested in turning a bright idea into a money-making venture.

The MIT Enterprise Forum’s “Launch Smart Clinic” was held at TechSandBox this year.

Pictured: Kellian Adams Pletcher, of Green Door Labs, showed William Hilton and James G. Shelnut a product her business is developing during the MIT event.

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Waltham

Waltham resident Kevin McGuire has a few bones to pick with area restaurants. McGuire, who is confined to a wheelchair after a drunk driver struck and paralyzed him from the waist down at the age of 7, said many local eateries still have miles to go before making people with disabilities feel completely welcome.

He has created AbleRoad, an app that people can use to rate restaurant experiences for disabled people.

Much like the popular review site Yelp.com, AbleRoad allow people to rate restaurants, shops, businesses, and public venues, but on wheelchair accessibility and ease of access for blind and deaf people. Since its soft launch in January, the site has garnered about 10,000 reviews and 10,000 app downloads, McGuire said last month.
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